Tala Phoenix and the Dragon's Lair

by Gabby Fawkes

  “That the time will come when you must go to Mathusalem. Must avoid the place no longer.”

  He smiled gently at my oh hell no face. “No, I cannot tell you why, only that you will come to see when you are there.”

  Another riddle. Still, I decided to leave that part be. The guy wasn’t asking me to give him my word or anything, after all.

  "But what is Ulrulu?" I asked, crinkling my nose at the name. "An Olympian gone bad?”

  "In the beginning, he was one of the originals," Walario said smoothly. His eyes opened a little wider, then closed and he shook his head.

  “And how do you know this?” I asked. “You’ve met or seen him?”

  This encounter kept getting weirder and weirder.

  "Not in person, no," Walario said. "Not many do. He remains most often behind the scenes and that is the way he prefers it.”

  A bitter smile curled on his lips. “Although there are some scenes he cannot remain behind… my mind has access beyond even the most tightly locked doors.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that, other than ‘cool’. This Walario guy seemed like the real deal, but still. Was there a way to see if he was telling the truth? And even if so, why comes here and tell me all this – just to get me to go to Mathusalem? Seemed a bit fishy.

  “You do not believe me,” Walario said easily. “I don’t blame you either. But if I were to show you…”

  His head tilted one way, then the other, then shook definitely. “Ah, probably not wise.”

  “No,” I said quickly. “I want to see, please. Show me – I can handle it.”

  Miss a chance to see the asshat who might be behind everything horrible that had ever happened to my friends and me? Yeah, no way was I going to miss that chance.

  Walario regarded me gravely. “It could be risky."

  “That’s fine,” I said. “I need to see this.”

  His eyes searched mine carefully. "Are you sure?"

  "For sure, I'm sure," I said immediately, swallowing back the buds of fear opening in my chest. "If this is the guy who’s been making our lives a living hell, then I want to see what we're up against."

  Walario closed his eyes, nodding. When they snapped open again, his pupils had swallowed his irises, while his voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere else. "As you wish."

  He reached out one pointer finger and touched it to mine. A pulse of energy threw me back, falling. Down, down, down through pure blackest black, until I jarred into something. If I was on the ground I couldn’t see it. Couldn’t see anything but black and more of it.

  "So, you came," a voice said simply.

  I whirled around to see… him. He was wearing white, sitting with his back turned to me, on what had to be a raised platform, unless his chair was floating somehow.

  It seemed a dumb question, but I had to ask, "So, you’re him? Ulrulu?"

  "I am," returned his cool voice. He spoke in a dull monotone without any feeling in it, as if he'd done away with emotion long ago.

  "I will find you, you know," he said in the same dull tones of fact.

  "But why?" I burst out. "What have my friends and I ever done to you? Why are you doing this?"

  "I'm correcting nature," came his answer. "The world has been allowed to continue unchecked for too long now. I am the fix the world doesn't know it needs. But one day, all will thank me for my good work."

  "Not my friends and I, we won't," I said, my lip curling. "Turning us into horrific monsters, why?"

  "In the end, all will be clear," he said.

  “You’re sick,” I spat.

  My fists balled, my heat pumping through me. But it was cold… too cold. My birthmarks throbbed with it.

  Impotent rage boiled through me. I wanted to burn this monster, scorch him off the face of the Earth, out of existence. I wanted to make him pay for all the twisted, horrific things he’d done to me and the others. What he planned to do.

  “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music,” his voice rang out.

  And just like that, he rose from the chair and began to descend the staircase. I could only watch gape-jawed as he did so, backwards. Always keeping his back to me. And yet he moved as smoothly as though he walked forwards.

  I tried to take a step back but I found that I couldn't. Suddenly my whole body was tensed, shaking. Someone was sputtering, but it wasn't me, or him. The cold had me clenched in place. I couldn’t even breathe.

  With his back to me, the man was now directly in front of me. His hands swung around impossibly behind him and landed on my shoulders with the force of bricks. Pain shattered through my body as I sank further to the ground. My bones were compacting. My ears were ringing. Someone was yelling. Through it all, his voice, bored and cold, said "Let's see what you're made of, Tala Phoenix."

  Every one of my bones was shattering at the force of his touch. My PV was screaming or maybe it was me. All I could think of, all I could feel, was pain and an abject, impossible hope for the end of it. Even if it meant death. Anything for this horrific pain to be stopped. Anything.

  All at once, the screaming stopped. Everything did. I fell away.

  Finally, thankfully, the end had come.

  10

  "Tala! Tala! Tala!" a familiar voice was yelling.

  It was annoying, unwanted. If only it would let me sleep…

  The light was black, and I liked it that way, yet the voice remained, like an angrily buzzing fly. "Tala, Tala…"

  Finally, I opened my eyes. Walario’s agitated face swam into view.

  "My God, you almost… I am so sorry. Are you well?"

  Everything swam back to me, the pain, the… man or whatever he was.

  "He…"

  "I'm so sorry," Walario said. "I had no inkling, he's never…"

  "He knew I was coming," I said. "He was the one waiting for me."

  Walario’s face was clenched with pain. "I’ve been a fool. So many times, I have seen him in my dreams while he seemed unaware. I thought I could transport you in the same way. I should've known better, that he would be one step ahead.” He shook his head angrily. “He always has been."

  I shivered. "But what was he talking about?" I said. "About correcting nature and the world continuing unchecked?"

  Walario helped me to my feet, although his eyes were as blue fire as ever. "There are some who deny that our world is as it should be. Some who say it should be more like this, more like that. Some, who even go as far as to try and make it that way. But only Ulrulu is so certain in his aims, so unwavering in his belief, that he is undertaking to right the wrongs he believes The Fate has condoned."

  "What exactly is he planning on doing?" I asked.

  Walario shook his head. "I cannot say. Only that whatever he has planned, the changes will be sweeping, merciless, and irreversible. Many will perish. I have seen this in my dreams."

  I tottered. “I thought you said… you see what will happen.”

  “Sometimes,” he said. “Others are mere shadows, possibilities that twine side by side.”

  “So basically, Ulrulu could get his evil way, but it’s not for sure.”

  He inclined his head sadly. “Yes.”

  At this admission, suddenly, his face changed, opened up. "You're white as a sheet. Here, have a crumpet."

  With a sweep of his hand a raisin-filled crumpet appeared. I eyed it uncertainly. The last time Walario had tried to help me I had nearly ended up dead at the hands of some creepy Ulrulu guy.

  Walario eyed the crumpet sadly then nodded. "Yes, it's fine. But if you do not feel up to it…"

  Feeling guilty, I took a tentative bite. It actually was super yummy.

  "I should be going," Walario said.

  "Already?" I said. "You aren't going to stay?"

  "Not for now. Not here. Goodbye, Tala."

  As he walked toward the door he had first emerged from, he added, "We will meet again. And do not fear what you saw. For as gre
at as the dark one is, you are just as powerful."

  Is he aware of just how immobile we were under that horrendous pain? PV grumbled.

  Walario smiled gently. "I cannot deny that you are not ready to face him now. But later, you will be. And later, if we are lucky and you are strong, you will win."

  And with that prophetic and not-as-certain-as-I’d-have-liked statement hanging, he left.

  Is he aware just who he's talking to? PV groaned. The girl who could hardly muster herself out of bed on time?

  -I know I'm not the superstar he thinks I am, okay? I snapped in my head as my response. Don't need to rub it in.

  That is the spirit, PV said, finally satisfied. Cautious optimism all the way.

  I waited until that night to tell Demi, Kian, and Jeremy what had happened. Demi was horrified, while Kian was both horrified and amazed. "Can we go down and see them? The ghosts? Why didn't you ask, like, what they were? Maybe there's some witches down there!”

  "You're joking," Jeremy growled.

  "What?" Kian protested. "I mean, obviously what happened was horrible. Did you not hear me gasp at the whole Tala-almost-being-killed-part? But come on, ghosts are cool."

  "We could probably learn a lot from them," Demi said thoughtfully, patting me as she did so. "Although you really took a huge risk there, Tala. Why didn't you call for us?"

  "Curiosity got the best of me, I guess," I said.

  "It's just a good thing you weren't hurt," Jeremy said, frowning to himself.

  "Anyway," I said, "I’m beat. Facing that Ulrulu guy practically killed me – literally.”

  "Hm," Kian said, tan hand on her hip. "Athena might show any day now too. Even if Dion trusts her, I don’t."

  "Maybe she’ll just bring a housewarming gift," Demi said airily.

  "Like what?" Jeremy said, green eyes dubious. "More plants? I've heard you and Persephone have been tending and growing enough of those already."

  Demi blushed. She hadn’t only been tending the plants already in the underground forest, she’d also filled her and Persephone’s rooms with so many plants that it looked like they were an extension of the forest themselves.

  Kian yawned loudly. "Okay, okay. Buenas noches everyone."

  "Goodnight," we all said.

  The next morning, no less than ten different people tried to corner me at breakfast. As I sleepily bee-lined to get some food and chase away my grumpy PV’s constant, burn them all and roast them, burn them all and salt and pepper them, burn them all and won't you just feed us properly for a change! I had to ward off people's differently voiced versions of the same question: How exactly are we going to be ready for the DSA?

  Truthfully, it was just a trite saying that had sounded good at the time. Because, let's face it, not being ready for the DSA would be disastrous. Not being ready for them would mean being captured or killed, an existence probably even worse than at the School for the Different. We would be trapped, enslaved, probably turned into monsters. Yes, there was no alternative.

  My stress wasn’t helped by the fact that the newly-freed ghosts had decided to take this opportunity to float out of the dungeon and appear at random. In the span of a few hours, apparently the grumpy ghost Oswald had jettisoned a candelabra and roared at some kids who were ‘scuffying their dirty shoes all over the place and making a racket’, a nameless ghost had had great fun in switching around the hats of several kids, and Mitzi had burst into tears that no one wanted to try the (also translucent) chocolate chip cookies she had made. I’d managed to do damage control for Mitzi (explaining that none of the kids had ever seen ghosts before), and explain to whichever kids I happened to run into the whole ‘yeah, there are now ghosts living among us, no biggie’. But that didn’t help allay the whole what-the-hell-are-we-gonna-do-now-about-the-DSA thing.

  In the cafeteria, I slumped beside Jeremy and confided my worries in him. Luckily, since a lot of the younger kids were still nervous of him, no one dared approach. Everyone had heard about how he went all psycho killer bear in Times Square. Hulda was there too.

  "You don't have to figure it all out right away," he said as he emptied a jar of honey onto his eyebrow-high stack of pancakes.

  He frowned at my stare. "What? I'm hungry." He stabbed his fork through a huge lump of them. "I’m part bear, remember?"

  "How could we forget?" Jenna said, passing by. "With the way you literally smell like bear."

  "Ignore her," Jeremy said, chomping down on his food without a second glance her way. "I'd be mad too, if my only superpower was being a bitch."

  Some younger kids, sitting a few places down, snickered. Even Hulda smiled.

  "Anyway," he continued. "Seriously. If you need time to figure out what we should do, you should take it. You were the one who got us this place. And you're right. It'll take the DSA a long-ass time to get here. It's not like the hordes are at the gate."

  Hulda nodded, biting into a macadamia nut cookie.

  I chewed some burnt crispy bacon glumly, trying to pretend I didn't notice how everyone kept sneaking glances my way. "Except that they kind of are," I said. "Demi told me everyone’s nervous. People need to know what's coming. What to expect. I can't just tell everyone, ‘I don't know, we're figuring it out but please sit tight and don't run off into the Dragon Badlands like Jenna wants to’."

  That was another thing I'd heard whispered about as I walked to breakfast. Sammy had come to me, telling me Jenna's idea, which was to run for it and find a new place to live, without us, since the DSA were looking for us, not the other kids.

  Sammy would've stayed longer to talk, only she'd been so upset that icicles were coming out of her fingers. I was going to check on her after breakfast, since right now with my brain of fuzz, the only thing I'd be able to do properly was eat, as my stomach growled.

  "I have an idea …" Kian said, sashaying down and flopping beside me. She glanced at my glum face. "Cheer up, amiga."

  As her fingers swished, a few more slices appeared, and I took one, although I was quickly losing my appetite.

  "Did you not hear the part where I said I have an idea?" Kian said.

  "And it's a wonderful idea," Dion said, sitting down on Kian’s other side.

  "Because you're not biased at all," Kian said, although she was smiling.

  "Okay," I said. "What is it?"

  Right now, I was open for any ideas she or anyone had. Other than Jenna, at least.

  "It's not the world's best idea," Kian said, backtracking. "But I think if we went to Mathusalem and made some kind of deal-"

  "Bad idea," Axel said, sitting down with a slab of roast beef. Apparently, he and Apollo had found the dragons’ massive stinky iced meat stores the other day. "We're not that desperate yet."

  "Keyword being yet, killer boy," Kian said.

  "I’m about your age times 500," Axel said. “I’m no boy.”

  Kian’s nose crinkled. "Don't remind me that my friend is dating an old man."

  I swallowed. I still hadn’t mentioned my fight with Axel to anyone. Mainly because I felt guilty and stupid. And I still didn’t know where we stood. Where I stood.

  Dion slung his arm around Kian and kissed her cheek. "So are you, darling."

  Kian couldn’t hide the smile that crept on her face. It was good since it gave me a minute to think.

  Walario had said I’d have to be open to going to Mathusalem eventually – he’d also expressly said ‘there will come a time’. You didn’t say that for things that were happening just days later, did you? Then again, what other option did we have right now, really?

  "You’re not going to believe this," I said wearily. "But I think we should go to Mathusalem."

  Kian dropped the bowl of spaghetti she was holding, noodles splaying everywhere. "You think what?"

  "It's a long story," I said. "But at this point I think it’s our best bet."

  Kian grinned. "Should I go tell the others? Oh, this is so perfecto! I've been waiting—no, praying—for this!"
/>   "Hold up," I said. "It's not just up to me."

  Axel was just staring at me.

  "No, I didn't put any kind of mind-changing charm on her if you were wondering," Kian said, slapping some more spaghetti in her mouth, clearly offended. "Tala is my friend, Killer Boy."

  "Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea," Demi said thoughtfully.

  "You all are forgetting one major part of this," Persephone pointed out, jabbing her spaghetti-wrapped fork in the air forcefully. "We have absolutely no clue where Mathusalem is, and Kian’s witchy BFFs aren’t gonna tell us."

  "Still," I said, "someone must know where it is. Maybe if we went to the Flying-"

  "This is a bad idea," Axel said. He sat down, then got up again, shaking his head. He slapped the table in frustration, sending bowls jumping. "What do you not understand about the witches can't be trusted? What made you change your mind?"

  I shifted uneasily. Something told me that admitting that it was Walario and that I trusted him even though I didn’t know why wouldn’t go over well. But it was the truth.

  "Should I prepare the jet?" Dion cut in, coming back with two bowls of ice cream for him and Kian, clearly excited.

  "So, there's no like, porta-doors here anywhere?" Kian asked, accepting her bowl with a kiss on Dion’s cheek. “We went through a ton of those on Olympus, and Earth.”

  Persephone snorted. "Dragons risk anyone unwanted coming through their precious door? Yeah no, they’re content to go the long way most places. It isn’t like they ever visit the other lands more than once every decade."

  I eyed her. "You sure you never met any dragons before?"

  "One of my greatest regrets," she said seriously.

  "We're not going there," Axel said. "Not without a discussion first. I’ll get the others."

  His ringing voice had already drawn several eyes on us.

  I exhaled. This wasn't just about me or my friends anymore. Whatever we decided, it would affect all the kids too. And if we got caught…

  I grabbed a nearby roll and crumbled it in my fist.

  "Hey," Jeremy protested. "I was eating that."